>> Sunday, October 8, 2017

TRIBUTE

By
Innabuyog

Petra, as a given name
is the feminine form of Peter, which is derived from the Greek word, petros
meaning, “stone or rock”. Fitting is her given name for Mother Petra Macliing
really is like the stone terraces adorning our mountains standing tall with her
courage and determination to defend the land that nourishes life – our life.
She is also like a rock providing a solid foundation and stable source of
inspiration not only for her 8 children but for all the children of the
Cordillera. And for that, she is embraced by all of us. She has become the
mother of us all – nurturing and life-sustaining.

Mother
Petra hails from the humble community of Mainit, Bontoc, Mountain Province. Her
husband died after the birth of her last child. And so, Mother Petra raised her
family on her own – supporting them by farming, raising pigs, and keeping a
sari-sari store. Being a single parent and the hard life in the ili did not
hinder her activism for indigenous peoples rights to self-determination and
ancestral land. This only made her more resolute in pursuing a better future
for all of us and strengthened her role as a mother.

In the 70s
through the 80s, Benguet Corporation Incorporated (BCI) forced its way into
Mainit for mineral exploration. This was opposed by the Mainit people because
of the destruction that it would cause to the environment and to the livelihood
of the people. Mother Petra was quoted saying, “There is gold in our mountains but
that does not nurture us – the rice fields, swidden lots and hunting grounds
do. Our forefathers have said it before and I will also say now: of what use
and good would gold be to us when it means destroying our rice fields? What
good will it be to us to have glittering gold to adorn our bodies if there is
no food and our stomachs will be eternally famished?”

She and
other women from their community took the lead in confronting mining engineers
who wanted to survey their ili and in 1975, they went on hunger strike to show
their opposition to the entry of corporate mining in their territory. Also, as
President of the Mainit Irrigation Association (MIA), Mother Petra led an
irrigation project that would improve and expand rice farming and in turn
strengthen the ili’s opposition against BCI’s mineral exploration echoing the
organization’s call, “Rice not gold. You do not eat gold.”

In 1980,
even with the country at the grips of Martial Law, Mother Petra again united
the Mainit women to take the lead role in confronting BCI which was hell bent
in exploiting the gold under the community’s rice terraces. At that time, there
was heavy military deployment in Mountain Province and Mother Petra was marked
as a supporter of the New Peoples Army and was branded a communist by the
military and the government because among the opposition against the Mainit
mines, her voice was the loudest. However, she was not cowed and her courage
and determination became a shining light during those dark times.

Along with
other Mainit women, she initiated dialogues with BCI engineers. However, these
proved ineffective since BCI was still able to continue its exploration in
Mainit and was able to set-up a camp in the community. To avert any violence
that would have resulted from Mainit men wanting to physically assault the BCI
camp, Mother Petra led the women in looking for other ways to drive away BCI
for good.

With the
men not far behind, she and the women, arms linked together went to the BCI
camp and demanded the engineers to leave their land. Drawing strength from
their collective anger and rage against the repeated violation of their rights
as indigenous peoples, they burnt the campsite and threw BCI’s equipment into
the river. Some even took equipment that they could carry and brought it to
BCI’s office at Poblacion, Bontoc so that company will have no reason to go
back into their mountains.

Some of the
older women stripped their clothes and exposed their breasts to curse, shame
and drive away the engineers. This form of protest is derived from the culture
of Bontocs where it is taboo for men to see their mothers and grandmothers –
those where they came from, unclothed lest, they will suffer an endless
occurrence of bad luck. Also, the women, in their determination to drive away
BCI forever, squeezed the testicles of the engineers while chasing them away.
And so, BCI left Mainit never to return.

At the time
that Mother Petra and her community were confronting BCI, the struggle against
the construction of the Chico Dams and against the logging activities of
Cellophil Resources Corporation (CRC) was raging in the region. Villages along
the Chico River, from Bontoc to Kalinga opposed the construction of the Chico
Dams for these will submerge their rice terraces and their homes – their source
of livelihood and identity as indigenous peoples. Moreover, the umili of Abra
resisted the logging activities of CRC since its continutation would mean the
complete denudation of their forests.

Mother
Petra and her community actively participated in these struggles. Through her,
Mainit women forged solidarity with the women of Kalinga and Abra. They
conducted sharing of experiences, especially among the women of the Butbut
Tribe and the women of Bugnay. In mass mobilizations in Mountain Province, they
would speak and relate their struggle against BCI to the anti-CRC struggle in
Abra. There were also several times when Mother Petra would troop to Manila,
along with other leaders and elders of the region to speak about what is
happening in the Cordillera. Mother Petra’s voice, along with other Bontoc,
Kalinga and Abra leaders rang loud and true until finally, the construction of
the Chico Dams were put on hold and the logging activities of CRC was stopped.

Mother
Petra’s role and contribution to the Cordillera peoples fight for land, life
and honor is recognized, not only by the communities in the region but by the
international community as well. In 2009, she is one of the awardees of the
Women’s World Summit Foundation’s (WSSF) Laureate Prize for Rural Women in
honor of her creativity and courage in contributing in the improvement of the
quality of life in rural communities, for protecting the environment,
transmitting knowledge and standing up for human rights and peace. She is also
one of the six Filipino women who was awarded by the Asian Rural Women’s
Coalition during the 5th International Day of Rural Women in 2012 for advancing
indigenous peoples rights, promoting civil rights, combating violence against
women, and for seeking better treatment of the rural poor, political prisoners,
farmers and children.

Indeed,
Mother Petra’s story echoes that of honor, creativity and women power. –
(Innabuyog is a group of women’s groups working for indigenous people’s rights
in the Cordllera)